Sex offender will not be confined for treatment

A Carroll man who molested a 5-month-old girl in 2008 and - after he was incarcerated for the crime - allegedly sent a naked picture of himself to a minor and possessed child pornography does not suffer from a mental abnormality that makes him likely to commit future sex crimes, according to a psychiatrist who evaluated the man.

The state Attorney General's office had sought to confine Kevin Lee McDonald, 41, indefinitely to a Cherokee treatment facility for sexually violent predators. The psychiatrist, Michael Taylor, of Cumming, initially deemed McDonald a pedophile but reversed that opinion after a full evaluation early this month, court documents show.

McDonald admitted in court as part of a plea deal in March 2009 that he "inflicted pain or discomfort" to an infant girl to arouse or satisfy his sexual desires, according to a transcript of the court hearing.

McDonald initially faced a felony sex-abuse charge that carried a penalty of up to 25 years in prison for allegedly molesting the infant.

Instead, he pleaded guilty to a lesser felony - lascivious acts with a child - punishable by up to five years in prison.

McDonald was set to be released from prison on Dec. 6, but an assistant Iowa Attorney General intervened with the civil commitment request. A judge ruled in December that there was sufficient evidence that McDonald might be a sexually violent predator - which is defined by state law as someone "who has been convicted of or charged with a sexually violent offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality which makes the person likely to engage in predatory acts constituting sexually violent offenses, if not confined in a secure facility."

McDonald was paroled from prison in April 2011 but was incarcerated again after he exchanged naked pictures with a girl, according to court documents. He was twice found in prison with pictures of underage children and admitted he masturbated while looking at them, the documents show.

Psychiatrist Taylor's report this month from his full evaluation of McDonald led Assistant Attorney General John McCormally to request on Tuesday the detention case to be dismissed.

District Judge Gary McMinimee dismissed the case on Wednesday and ordered that McDonald be released from the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility in Mount Pleasant, where he had been held pending a trial for the detention in April.